LEACH ADDS TO 'GUILTY PLEASURES'

First, Robin Leach brought us Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Next week, he unveils Fame, Fortune and Romance. What, I ask you, is left?

Actually, I asked Leach, at the end of a marathon week of frantic taping, splicing and editing in New York. "Not much is left," he replied, in that famed, unctuous cockney delivery. "Between the two shows, I think we've covered the things everyone aspires to."

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, a fast-paced walking, flying and running tour of celebrity homes, premiered in syndication three years ago. This year, ratings suggest it has become the "guilty pleasure" (each TV season has at least one) that millions of viewers watch without admitting it. Don't look for scandal on Lifestyles; the show's credo is that money can, and does, buy happiness.

Lifestyles, which airs weekly (Saturdays at 7 p.m., WPTV-Ch. 5, WPLG-Ch. 10) in syndication, recently spawned a network clone that recycles old segments and is shown Monday-Friday by ABC (11 a.m., WPLG-Ch. 10 and WPEC-Ch. 12). As he was closing the ABC deal, Leach was simultaneously preparing the launch of Fame, Fortune and Romance.

Clearly, here's a fellow who isn't worried about oversaturation.

"I always thought it was the superstars of Hollywood who had big money and big houses," explained Leach. "But they live like paupers compared to really rich people. Their real money doesn't come from earnings -- it comes from leverage.

"Please don't think for one minute I'm jaded or bored with Lifestyles," Leach added hastily, "but on this show I'm glad we can explore in more depth the three areas in the title. We tell stories. One segment will deal with a person's fame, another with his or her fortune, and how it was acquired, and finally, the romance. For instance, Sophia Loren -- in day one, she's in the fame spot, in day two, the fortune spot, in day three, the romance spot.

"Not all celebrities figure into all three spots, but she does."

Fame, Fortune and Romance will preempt the ABC broadcasts of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous for two weeks, beginning June 16. In addition to Loren, the show offers profiles of Clint Eastwood, Dudley Moore, Elizabeth Taylor and a Leach perennial, Joan Collins.

Leach is particularly thrilled by the segments on Loren, who is both a movie star and one of those "really rich people" who are the focus of Fame, Fortune and Romance.

"We spent three days with her at her home on Williams Island in Florida," he recalled. "We learned a lot. I never knew she still had scars from shrapnel wounds on her chin -- which she scratched the makeup from and showed us. They're from three days hiding from the bombing near Naples during World War II, racing in her mother's arms through the sewer lines.

"Not every star is gonna want, or be suitable for, all three parts," said Leach. "Raquel Welch is in the romance section only. Nobody has ever been able to get Raquel and her husband, Andre Weinfeld, to sit down and say why two marriages to Americans failed and one to a European succeeded."

Although Lifestyles deals with conspicuous excess, Leach said Fame, Fortune and Romance has "only a minor obsession with the dollar label. It's an inspirational, heart-and-soul story of a person's climb from zero to the top. Stories are important. People ask why Dynasty dropped in the ratings this season, and it's not because viewers grew tired of Linda Evans or John Forsythe or Joan (Collins) -- it's because they didn't like the Moldavia story.

"Fortune could have a Mother Theresa in it -- she's achieved fame, that's her segment -- while you'd never find her in Lifestyles."

Leach, 45, a former tabloid journalist whose celebrity gossip columns once ran in 46 publications, cheerfully admitted that Lifestyles is a hit because "we really do go into the bedrooms and bathrooms of the stars." Lifestyles has increased ABC's daytime rating opposite two hit game shows, CBS's The Price Is Right and NBC's Wheel of Fortune, by as much as 45 percent since its network debut. The number of employees at Leach Entertainment Features has expanded from 110 to 300.

Despite what might euphemistically be called a somewhat eager approach, Leach gets few turndowns from celebrities (the two constant exceptions: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Greta Garbo). He always insists upon a formal interview ("otherwise you're a cheap, shoddy little production playing snoop"), and he said there's an obvious reason why stars aren't afraid of him.

"We're not out to be brutal," he offered. "I don't mind if I get called obsequious. The name of the show is not 'Crucify the Rich and Famous.' "

Leach, who is divorced and has three grown children, has lived for 14 years in the same three-bedroom house in suburban Connecticut. He started Lifestyles with an $8 million investment from several investors.

Does he aspire to the wealth his two TV shows depict?

For the first time, Leach was oblique in his response.

"Another two or three years and we'll be very happy with success," he said. "I think Lifestyles has another three or four years before the public is saturated with it. I hope in five years, I can wave you all goodbye, 'cause I do need a rest."